


let me adore you (oh honey)

by softwheeze



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series), Watcher Entertainment
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Friends to Lovers, Gay Bar, M/M, Pining, Songfic, curly is a wingman, only a little bit, singer!Shane, slight feminine!ryan, songwriter!Shane
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:24:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22520188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softwheeze/pseuds/softwheeze
Summary: Ryan, a couple weeks after experiencing a shitty breakup, goes to a bar to take his mind off of things. He quickly realizes the bar is a gay bar. He also realizes that Shane has been hiding some things from him.
Relationships: Ryan Bergara/Shane Madej
Comments: 10
Kudos: 164





	let me adore you (oh honey)

**Author's Note:**

> the song is "adore you" by harry styles!
> 
> also: yes, this fic mentions a break up, but i mean literally _no_ harm towards ryan or shane's girlfriend(s) or their relationships as a whole! this is for fun and fun only :)
> 
> oh also what you know by two door cinema club is mentioned here too. it reminds me of shane and ryan and i love it :)
> 
> edit: ok so the lings are being stupid and they keep breaking so head over to my tumblr (femmebergara) and read the fic there if you're interested in the links whoops

Ryan Bergara had had a long fucking day. A long fucking month, to be fair. He hadn’t really told anyone except for his roommates (because it’s hard to hide things from the people you live with), but he and his girlfriend had broken up after a year of being together. They realized together that the affection they were giving each other was just an imitation of romantic love. They wanted to love each other, but honestly, they only thought of each other as friends. It was a relieving and devastating realization for both of them. Ryan cried, he was miserable for a week or two, but after that, friends they had become. It was almost like nothing had changed, that he and Mari were almost meant to be friends. And that revelation had sent Ryan into a spiral of a questioning panic. Ryan had never experimented with guys before… but honestly? Feeling a man’s stubble scratch him while they kissed… _shit._ Ryan shuddered. Maybe he should go out, get his head out of the gutter for a bit.

Ryan texted Shane, his best friend, asking if he wanted to come. But the latter just texted back with a “busy, sorry lil guy!!!!!!!!!!!!” (yes, with that many exclamation points), so clearly he was going alone for the night.

He threw on a long brown coat over the current black turtleneck he had on, and he looked at himself in the mirror. Holy _shit_ , he looked _good_. He usually just shoved on a tee-shirt and skinny jeans but recently since the break-up he had been experimenting with style and he realized just how much he liked to dress up. It was quite fun, actually. Running his hands in his hair one last time while looking in the mirror, he decided he looked good enough to go out.

He decided to go to a bar that somehow he hadn’t really gone to before, nor had he heard of. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too crowded; however, it was a Friday night so maybe he was pushing his luck. He booked an uber and was swiftly picked up and driven to the bar.

Walking in, he noticed something was a little different. The people seemed louder, more confident, more lively, which made him frown in confusion to himself as he sat down. He ordered a beer; the bartender gave him a wink as he handed it to Ryan, and Ryan tried very hard to hide the blush that appeared on his face at the action. _Jesus, what was happening to him? He had just started questioning his sexuality and he was already blushing like a newborn flower._

“Hey, is that Ryan Bergara?!” A familiar voice shouted from behind him.

Ryan whipped around and, seeing the person in question, he smiled. Finally, some good fucking company. “Hey, Curly!”

Curly, who was wearing a very Curly-typical outfit, slid into the seat next to Ryan. “Hey, Ryry! Didn’t expect to see you here. What brings you to a gay bar on a Friday night?” 

Ryan was taking a sip of his beer and he nearly spat it out. “ _What?_ ”

Curly frowned. “What?”

“This… this is a _gay bar?_ ” Ryan exclaimed. Curly chuckled a little in response, almost in disbelief.

“Was that not obvious, _chico?_ ” Curly asked, and watching Ryan shyly shake his head no, he smiled. “Oh, Ryan. Sweet, innocent Ryan. What would Mari say?” Ryan knows this was a complete joke, that Curly didn’t know, that he was just playing around and expected Ryan to laugh. But it kinda stung. Ryan immediately looked down to his lap.

“Oh. Uhm… actually,” Ryan stammered, “Her and I… we… split. About a month ago.”

Curly’s face immediately turned from playful to sympathetic. “Oh, no, Ryan…” And no, Ryan didn’t want to have this conversation. 

“No, no… it was mutual. Besides… I’ve kinda been, uh, wanting to… experiment… lately?” He blushed as he said it out loud.

Curly’s eyebrows raised. “ _Oh?_ ”

Ryan smiled shyly. “Yeah… I’ve been thinking about it and…”

“You realized boys are actually really pretty and hot and you want to get that D?” Curly finished for him.

Ryan laughed, embarrassed, cheeks flushing. “Yeah, I do, I guess.” He started to take a sip of his beer.

“It’s okay, _mi principito_ ,” Curly said, patting Ryan’s head as if he were a silly child. “We all knew you were a bottom, anyways.”

Ryan choked on his beer. “ _WhAT?_ ” He coughed a couple times while Curly laughed, trying to regain the ability to breathe.

After laughing, Curly ignored him. “Anyways,” he turned towards the stage towards the back wall of the bar. “Usually on Fridays we have a music guest or two. I’ve come a couple times to listen, they’re usually really good.”

“Cool,” said Ryan. “When do they come on?”

“Around, like, eight, so in…” Curly checked his watch. “Ten minutes. You should stay and listen!”

Ryan shrugged. “Sure! It sounds like fun, and I’m planning on having a lot more beers than one tonight.” Curly laughed.

The two men talked for the next ten minutes, Curly asking lots of questions about Ryan discovering his sexuality, and Ryan answered as best as he could. It wasn’t a long story, really. After his breakup, he had just thought “Huh. Men are hot too. I should try dating one. I want a boyfriend. Wait _what?_ ” and that’s basically how it went. Curly asked Ryan if there were any guys he was interested in, and Ryan thought for a moment. As much as he didn’t really like to admit it, Shane was the first person that came to Ryan’s mind. Shane was always there for him, was there through his breakup with Helen, there through his recovery, supportive of him and Mari and their breakup respectively. He was there to care for Ryan when he felt down, they sang songs together, ran a show together, ran a goddamned _business_ together, and not to mention, as much as Ryan hated it, Shane was _hot_. Ryan even caught himself staring at his scruffy beard, his shiny brown eyes, and the muscles he liked to pretend he didn’t have but _definitely_ did have. Shane wasn’t fucking ripped like Ryan was (according to all his friends), but he had muscles. Shane was _strong_. And Ryan wondered what his strong hands would look like wrapped around Ryan’s ne- nope, nope, Ryan, you’re in public. 

Choking kink aside, Ryan really did like Shane. Maybe Ryan even loved Shane. It wasn’t likely Shane had ever, or will ever feel the same back. 

“What’re you thinking about, my friend?” Curly asked from beside him. 

Ryan shook his head. “Nothing important.” It wasn’t important, really. Ryan would go on pretending he didn’t have feelings for Shane, just like he had probably been pretending for the past five years, and life would go on. Had it really been five years? Yeesh.

Curly looked like he was about to say something, but a loud mic feedback from across the room stopped them both. They turned their heads to a man at the mic. He had dark hair, smoothed back; but he also looked like he came here literally every day. He was wearing a hawaiian t-shirt, as you do, and worn-down jeans.

“Hey, everyone,” said the man as the people went quiet, “I’m Jared, I run this place. I hope you’re all having a great time so far.” He cleared his throat, then continued. “So, uh, today we have a musical guest. I think he should introduce himself actually, so…” He looked to his side, seemingly looking for someone standing at the side of the stage, then turned back. “take it away!” Jared exclaimed, and everybody started to clap. Ryan did, too.

Jared hastily came off the stage, and then another man walked onstage. He was wearing a white button-down, with the first couple of buttons undone, showing off his chest and collarbone. He wore black dresspants and clear framed glasses. He was tall and his hair was a light brown and his beard was neatly trimmed and _oh my fucking god, that’s Shane. _Ryan realized. His eyes widened like golf balls, and he turned to exchange a look with Curly, who’s eyes were equally as wide.__

__“Hey,” Shane said (oh my god, it’s fucking Shane) into the mic. “I uh, have a song to sing. I wrote it myself, actually.” The crowd cheered a little, and Shane laughed bashfully. “Yeah.”_ _

__As Shane continued talking to the crowd Ryan leaned into Curly and hissed, “Did you know anything about this?!”_ _

__Curly whispered back, “No, I would’ve told you. Holy shit, Ryan, he looks _good_.” And Ryan couldn’t argue with that. Jesus, Shane looked downright _incredible_ in that outfit, and he must’ve gotten another haircut, because he looked like a sophisticated lawyer. For whatever reason, Ryan was into it._ _

__“So, uh, this song is called ‘adore you’,” Shane continued, “It’s about one of my friends. He’s… he’s incredible, really. Inside and out. And, in our friendship we don’t get to, like, express our feelings a lot. It’s mostly jokes and bits. And… I wrote this when I was feeling emotional one day and I just wanted to tell him that- you know what? I’ll just sing it for you.” Shane cut himself off from his story, and in the back of his mind, Ryan wondered who the song was about. Shane had a lot of friendships that were more joking than emotional._ _

__The band behind Shane started to play, and as the intro to the song faded in Shane vocalized with this “ _Ahh…_ ” that was beautiful and controlled and incredible and how did Ryan not realize that Shane was that good at singing. It made Ryan’s heart do a flip-flop in his chest._ _

__The drums kicked in, and Shane started to sing._ _

__“ _Walk in your rainbow paradise  
Strawberry lipstick state of mind_”_ _

__Holy shit. This song was lovely so far, in Ryan’s opinion. Whoever Shane had written the song about was the luckiest person in the world._ _

__“ _I get so lost inside your eyes,” Shane continued to sing,  
“Would you believe it?_”_ _

__“Never took Shane as a romantic,” Curly nudged Ryan in the shoulder, and Ryan shrugged._ _

__“Me either.” Ryan dazedly wished it was him Shane was singing about. He’d pay good money to get a song as good as that, written just for him._ _

__“ _You don’t have to say you love me  
You don’t have to say nothin  
You don’t have to say you’re mine  
honey,_”_ _

__Ryan sighed, smiling. What a sap Shane was. Ryan always knew Shane was a sweetheart. He couldn’t wait to tease him about this._ _

__The chorus kicked in, and Ryan’s breath caught. Shane sang this soft “ahhh” with backing harmonies from the band, and Ryan refused to believe Shane had that much talent. Maybe Ryan was less straight than he originally assumed._ _

__“ _I’d walk through fire for you,  
Just let me adore you, oh honey,  
I’d walk through fire for you,  
Just let me adore you  
Like it’s the only thing I’ll ever do,_” Shane gripped the mic stand with both his hands, started to tap with his feet, gaining a little bit of confidence as the crowd _woo_ ed a little bit. It made Ryan smile even wider to see Shane so happy, so relieved the crowd was enjoying what he’d made._ _

__Shane started to sing the second verse. “ _Your wonder under summer skies  
Brown skin and lemon over ice  
Would you believe it?_”_ _

__Curly nudged him again. “What?” Ryan asked. Curly just wiggled his eyebrows in response, causing Ryan to flush and shove him playfully. “Curly, you think he’s-? Oh god, dude, no. No. No.” Ryan giggled, embarrassed at the thought._ _

__“I’m just saying,” Curly said, smug, and Ryan decided to give him a shove again._ _

__“ _You don’t have to say you love me  
I just wanna tell you something  
Lately you’ve been on my mind,_” The crowd had started to clap along with Shane’s song as the short instrumental in between the bridge and chorus started. Shane laughed bashfully, looking among the crowd of hands clapping. His smile fell ever so slightly as his gaze landed, consequently, on Ryan. Ryan’s breath hitched. Their eye contact was intense, full of an emotion Ryan couldn’t place. He quickly broke the eye contact by shyly looking down at his shoes. Shane’s voice didn’t waver, even if his expression did. He just continued to sing as beautifully as he ever had. The music faded to a simple base as Shane sang the chorus again,_ _

__“ _I’d walk through fire for you  
Just let me adore you  
Oh, honey,_” The drums and guitar with the lovely melody and the rest of the instruments started to play again. Shane’s gaze flicked to Ryan’s again, and stayed there as he sang the rest of the chorus._ _

__“ _I’d walk through fire for you  
Just let me adore you  
Oh, honey  
I’d walk through fire for you  
just let me adore you  
Like it’s the only thing i’d ever do,_” Shane bounced along to the beat as the crowd started to clap again and cheer. Shane was smiling again, and this time the smile didn’t waver as he looked Ryan deep in the eyes and crooned, “ _Like it’s the only thing I’ll ever do,_ ”_ _

__Ryan’s heart skipped a beat. This song couldn’t be about him, it just _couldn’t_. Shane could never like Ryan. Ryan was… a lot, emotionally. Ryan’s face wasn’t as symmetrical as it could be. Ryan talked too much about sports, his smile was wonky, his-_ _

__And with the last kick of the bass drum, the song ended. The crowd, including curly, whooped and cheered and clapped, and Ryan swore he’d never seen Shane smile wider. Ryan clapped too, laughing and smiling. He felt like a proud mother, even though he literally had never seen Shane sing like that._ _

__“Alright, well,” Shane gripped the mic again, and the crowd settled down. “That was a cheese-show, wasn’t it? Gross,” Shane was clearly joking, and the crowd laughed along with him, including Ryan. “Anyways, here’s a song I did not write. Here’s What You Know by Two Door Cinema Club.” The band started to play again, and the crowd cheered as Shane started to sing._ _

__Shane sang a bunch more songs, the rest of them just being covers of other songs that Ryan knew Shane liked. Ryan was genuinely enjoying himself too, and so were the rest of the people in the bar. He even saw some of the bartenders bobbing their heads and tapping their fingers along to the beat of whatever song Shane was singing. Every once in a while, Shane and Ryan would make eye contact, Ryan would flush, and Shane would smile as if he knew something Ryan didn’t; a secret. It was exhilarating to see Shane look at him like that. Ryan didn’t want Shane to stop doing that._ _

__Once Shane finished his last song, he said in the mic to the crowd, “That’s it for tonight, folks. I, uh, I don’t sing often in front of a crowd,” _Unless you count creating and singing a song about moonlight and french fries in front of people,_ Ryan thought to himself, making himself smirk.”So this was really special for me. Thanks to the band back here,” He motioned to the band, and people started to clap, “And thanks for clapping along and stuff. This was fun. Goodnight, enjoy the rest of your night!” And with that, the band started to pack up and Shane walked off of the stage._ _

__Ryan locked eyes with Curly, and they shared a smile. “Should we go up and see him?”_ _

__Curly nodded enthusiastically, “Yes, omigod, yes, I am going to tell him to get on the radio, oh my gosh, that was amazing!” He gushed, and grabbed Ryan’s hand and pulled him through the crowd to get to the side of the stage where Shane would be putting away his gear._ _

__When they got to the side of the stage, Shane was standing there, fixing his hair (as if it didn’t look gorgeous already, Ryan thought) and Curly pushed Ryan forward, having him face Shane up close._ _

__“Hey there, Ryan,” Shane said with a soft smile, as suave and as cool as ever, and Ryan couldn’t do anything but gaze up at him amazedly, knowing full-well he looked like a swooning 15 year old girl, and giggle a little bit. _God,_ what was Shane _doing_ to him? He had literally never reacted like this, and yet, after Shane’s whole show, seeing him singing like _that_ , looking like _that_ , dressed like _that_ , Ryan really could do nothing but swoon in his presence. _ _

__“Uh, _Shane_?!” Curly gushed from behind Ryan, taking a step forward and saving Ryan from any more embarrassment. “That was incredible! I didn’t know you could sing like that?!” _ _

__“Oh, hey, Curly!” At Curly’s response, Shane blushed a little bit, rubbed the back of his neck bashfully, “Well, uh, yeah. I’ve been writing and singing for a while now, just never got the chance to, like, perform. I struck up a conversation with the guy who owns the place and he brought up the musical guest thing, I told him about my songs, and… yeah. It went from there.” Shane turned back to Ryan, “Now what _I_ want to know, is what _you’re_ doing here.”_ _

__Ryan blushed even more. Usually when he blushed it didn’t show too much under slightly dimmed lights like these and under his tanned skin, but he probably looked like an anime girl at this point. “I didn’t know it was a gay bar. Whoops.”_ _

__A short silence fell upon the three, and finally Ryan, feeling awkward, softly said, “You were incredible.”_ _

__Shane said, “You _look_ incredible.” Ryan looked down, shy. Fuck Shane for making him so bashful._ _

__“Hey, Ryan?” Shane asked. His brown eyes looked so deep, yet so bright and full of emotion._ _

__“Yeah, big guy?” Ryan responded, breath taken away._ _

__“Can we… head outside for a moment?” He looked to Curly for permission, and Curly, the bastard, nodded, a smirk growing on his face. Fuck you, Curly._ _

__“Oh,” Ryan blinked, taken aback by the question, “Yeah. Of course. Sure.”_ _

__Shane led the way, and he and Ryan stepped outside the bar. The air was slightly chilly, the sky was dark, devoid of stars, and the wind blew slightly. Ryan shivered, and he felt a large, warm hand on his shoulder._ _

__“Uh,” Shane started, and Ryan glanced at Shane. He seemed… nervous. He was looking at his feet, hands in his pockets. “So… the song… the one I sang in the beginning.” He said, looking unsure/_ _

__Ryan nodded, goading him on. “Yeah, that was such a beautiful song, Shane. Whoever you wrote it about is super lucky.” _Oh, god, I just said that out loud. Of course._ “Uh… it was really good. I liked it. A lot.”_ _

__Shane smiled at that, a beautiful smile that Ryan was glad to see on Shane’s face. “Remember when we were filming tourist trapped?”_ _

__Ryan nodded. “Yeah?” He remembered it clearly. It was one of the best days of his 2019, hands down._ _

__

__“I really loved those few days we were filming. It… it was amazing. I loved eating hotdogs and gin with you, going on stupidly scary roller coasters with you, hugging Snoopy with you,” That got a laugh out of both of them, “And it really was some of the greatest days of my life.” _That makes two of us._ “So… I got home, and… I wrote a song about it.”_ _

__Ryans breath caught. He couldn’t mean… “You…” Ryan stammered._ _

__“Adore You is about _you_ , Ry.”_ _

__Ryan’s face turned red. “Really?” He practically whispered. Shane nodded. “Shane…”_ _

__“Shh,” Shane shushed him, placing a hand on his cheek softly and swooping down to kiss Ryan._ _

__Ryan gasped into the kiss, going still for a few moments before going _Oh, yeah, your super hot super cute super sweet best friend is kissing you, you should probably kiss back_ , and kiss back he did. Shane wouldn’t let the kiss go beyond anything but chaste and sweet, wrapping his arms around Ryan’s waist to pull him closer as Ryan (on his tiptoes) wrapped his arms around Shane’s neck. “ _Shane,_ ” Ryan sighed dreamily into the kiss, and Shane smiled against his lips in response._ _

__When they finally broke apart for air, Shane smiled, pressing one last kiss to Ryan’s cheek. “Shane.” Ryan said, out of breath._ _

__“Ryan.” Shane replied._ _

__Ryan played with Shane’s collar. “Wanna go back inside?” He shot Shane with his classic puppydog eyes, glancing at him through his lashes. He knew Shane was a sucker for them, kiss or no kiss._ _

__“If you insist,” said Shane, and the two went back inside, blushes on their cheeks and smiles on their faces. Ryan wondered what this meant for them. That kiss was something Ryan didn’t even know that he wanted, until tonight. He shook his head, deciding they’d discuss it later. Right now, he was happy, he was with Shane, and Curly, and this is where we wanted to be._ _

As they walked back inside, Ryan caught himself humming the ever-so-familiar tune,

_just let me adore you, like it’s the only thing i’ll ever do._

**Author's Note:**

> my headcanon is that shane's voice basically sounds like harry's!
> 
> follow me on tumblr!


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